1 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 SEMAT – Definitions Track March 17, 2010 Chair: Brian Henderson-Sellers

2 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Overview 1 st The role of definitions in SEMAT 2 nd Contributions from SEMAT participants’ Position Statements

3 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 SEMAT Vision revisited Method or Process Model Metamodel Process Static aspects Dynamic aspects As enacted by real people on a specific project As documented Kernel language usage e.g. “Method” or “Process Model” composed of universals, practices, patterns etc. Kernel Language (rules) Process =method enactment Static aspects Dynamic aspects As enacted by real people on a specific project As documented for widespread usage As standardized

4 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Let us start with an example Assume we have agreed upon this text as a definition: A team is a group of named people who interact with each other

5 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 What is a SEMAT definition? Team My team (Brian, Cesar, Atif) Class Its definition Thing Object x x x Atif Cesar Brian As a Venn diagram Organizational Grouping Team Object Thing Its definition Class Team both class & object Relationships are is-instance-of = set membership

6 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Using OO modelling, can replace by Team My team (Brian, Cesar, Atif) Organizational Grouping No longer a class but a powertype pattern Class + Object Object Relationship is both is-instance-of and generalization Relationship is is-instance-of = set membership

7 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Expanding My team (Brian, Cesar, Atif) Organizational Grouping GroupMemberNames Organizational Grouping Kind Intra-Action: Boolean Relationship is is-instance-of Relationship is generalization Intra-Action = YES GroupMemberNames Team Relationship is classification

8 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 More mathematical representation Organizational GroupingKind class x x x Partnership Company Team Organizational GroupingKind Team x x x x x x x x x x x x x Partnership Company Team Organizational Grouping class TeamCompany Organizational Grouping x x My team

9 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Strictly, in mathematics A power set P(S) or 2 S is the set of all subsets of S What we call a powertype is only a subset of P(S) and is called a family of sets over S

10 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Superimposing SEMAT vision Method or Process Model Metamodel Process Kernel language usage Kernel Language (rules) Process =method enactment My team (Brian, Cesar, Atif) Organizational Grouping GroupMemberNames Organizational GroupingKind Intra-Action Intra-Action=YES GroupMemberNames Team

11 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 This is similar to ISO architecture Language/rules domain Method/usage domain Endeavour Domain methodologiesassessmentqualitytools Kernel language

12 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Our original example text A team is a group of named people who interact with each other OrganizationalGroupingKind OrganizationalGrouping

13 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Contributions from Position Statements Definition of “software engineering” problematical Rough draft fast – refine iteratively over time Focus on Basics – avoid methodology wars – several position statements expressed caution Several address teams, team structures and other people issues Several talk of method “components” (or similar name) and SME (e.g. Firesmith, Spence, Humphrey, Fujitsu)

14 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 More contributions Several talk of how to measure success Is project management in scope? (Page-Jones argues against; others argue for) Inclusion of user interface (Constantine) Several mention taxonomy (Page-Jones), metamodels and ontologies (Firesmith, Bezivin, Henderson-Sellers) No agreed terminology (Spence notes widespread multiple meanings of “release” in industry)

15 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 How to proceed in the future? Identify what concepts require an SE definition (work with Universals Track) Agree on all these definitions in words including its name (seek overall consistent terminology but allow well-documented synonyms) Model them formally – link to kernel language possibilities include ontologies, metamodels, formal languages like VDM, category theory etc. Kernel language domain concepts can be partially validated w.r.t. method domain ones

16 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 Last look at original example text A team is a group of named people who interact with each other OrganizationalGroupingKind OrganizationalGrouping The challenge (at least to me) is to maintain focus on one specific domain and not accidentally merge two

17 ©B. Henderson-Sellers SEMAT 2010 How to Proceed Today? Agree on an overall architecture esp. w.r.t. links to Kernel Language Track and Universals Track Ensure Track proposals are flexible enough to align with Theory Track deliberations How to support Assessment Track Discuss sources of definitions Identify high level groupings of definitions to allocate to Track subgroups Identify Definition Track members willing to research likely contentious definitions